Book = thrown
Submitted by Sarah D. Bunting on November 15, 2007 – 8:01 PM17 Comments
Of course, said book is but a mote compared with Bonds’s massive cranium: “Baseball home-run king Barry Bonds used steroids to fuel his success and then lied about it, prosecutors said on Thursday in charging him with perjury and obstruction of justice.”
I feel like I should have more of a reaction to the headline than I do, but I don’t know how much good it does to indict the guy at this point. It’s not going to help either the culture or baseball if a Bonds trial turns into the last word on the subject.
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yeah. Just emailed you a bit ago to see if that was your response too. Whatev.
My feeling is about 65% meh, 35% good riddance to bad rubbish.
I do appreciate that they are not just letting it go, but I don’t expect any real, good, or in-depth results.
“I don’t know how much good it does to indict the guy at this point”
My thought exactly. I did have that moment of “yay!” but then I thought about it some more and it really doesn’t mean much at this point. gah.
I have mixed emotions about the indictment. I live in SF, and I went to many ballgames where the crowds cheered their hearts out for Barry. He was amazing to watch, and he owned the park. This isn’t a surprising development, but it saddens me a lot. In addition to seeing Barry live in many games here, my parents usher at the Giants spring training games in Scottsdale and see him there. While Bonds is generally standoffish with fans, they also have seen him be incredibly nice and generous to kids at the spring training games. So I don’t feel that he’s a bad person or even a mean person, although he can be an arrogant jerk at times.
Do I think Barry lied about steroids – yes. Do I think that other players used steroids – yes again. However, I also think that MLB executives, owners and coaches knew about steroid use and did nothing. They were content to sit quietly by, watch the crowds come to cheer the new home run kings, Bonds and Sosa (among others), count the money made on the backs of these players, and do nothing. I feel that Barry’s personality and his accomplishments made him an inviting target for prosecution, but I also feel that singling him out is unfair.
I also dislike perjury charges like this – they can’t go after the illegal steroid usage, so they go after him for sticking to his story (dumb as it was).
Wait, why not? I’m not overjoyed but my rabid fandom of Hank Aaron as a kid made me squeal with…whatever that’s called, but I don’t see why indicting the biggest liar out there (isn’t he?) wouldn’t be a good thing. I have no sort of perspective about Barry Bonds (I just get angry) and yYou know way more about baseball than I every will, so I really do want to know what you think.
Full disclosure: Native San Franciscan, but more of a 49er fan (such as they are) than a Giants fan.
My co-workers and I got into an argument today about whether Bonds killed the most sacred record in baseball history by beating it (…allegedly, heh) using drugs, and the consequences to the sport. My reaction: less impact than the designated hitter, although for the same reason. Chaos ensued.
I read this comment on the Chicago Tribune website:
IF MY PIRATE HAT STILL FIT
YOU MUST ACQUIT
Hee!
@Grace. I live in SF too. I sympathize with your opinion. But BB had full immunity for his grand-jury testimony–if he had told the truth he wouldn’t be charged with anything. He still thought he could do whatever he wanted without consequences. Sure, it’s kind of cheap that all they could get him on was the Martha Indictment (personally, I thought tax evasion would be what brought him down, but I guess that could still happen), but at the end of the day it’s his own damn fault.
Yeah, I think Bonds used steroids and tarnished (OK, blackened) his (deserved) reputation as one of the best ever to play the game. So if they want to throw the book at him, fine…but Barry’s not the only one who a) used and b) lied about it, so I’d hope they follow this up with some more severe punishments to other players. (cringing as I type this next sentence) If not, I think some of those people who are always out looking to play the race card have at least the seeds of an argument (though in reality, the enthusiasm for taking down Bonds probably has a lot more to to do with his personality than anything else).
You know what though–I don’t think Barry names names…if only as a “Screw you” to the whole investigation. And I’d kind of have to give him a “good on ya” for that.
What Grace said. Yup.
SF resident here (though I grew up in Oakland am an A’s fan, as such).
They say they’ve had this evidence for years. So why now? Also, why is this a federal case in the first place? Why is my tax money going to find out if there are steroids in baseball and if people are lying about it (DUH). If MLB wanted to investigate, fine, let them pay.
But, if they are going to go after Bonds, they need to go after every one of the other guys who have lied about this. And, as far as his records go… I feel like you have to look at this in the context of the game at the time. And that context = steroids. Just like other drugs were prevalent in other times, so are steroids now. Does that make it right? No. But if you are going to take this away, best to go back and investigate all the other records, too.
Fact is this…hitting a baseball is one of the hardest feats in sports. Hitting that ball well, even harder. So with or without steroids, he is a pretty amazing baseball player. (even if he is a huge-headed jerk)
Also a San Francisco resident here AND a Giants fan, so I must be biased.
I remember Bonds saying a couple years back that baseball stopped being a game for him and everyone else he worked with after college and became a career. And that he wanted to do whatever he had to to stay at the top of his field. And I have to say, while I don’t condone the drug use, I kind of see his point. I get the feeling from some of the sportswriters out there that the MLB was just a bunch of kids playing stickball until the big fat cheater showed up and ruined everything. People are going after Bonds because he is a jerk to the press and is full of himself. If this were really about steroids, there would be a lot more people indicted that just Barry.
First Lewis Libby, now Barry Bonds. Interesting parallels here.
@Nicole: I think it is “just about” steroids — but in the sense that MLB may believe that, if Bonds is convicted, they’re done, as addressing the problem. In other words, he’s the most visible aspect of the problem; he’s punished; problem solved.
And if MLB accepts that as a solution, if the fans accept that, because it’s easier to believe that cutting off the head will kill the beast…I mean, it would be nice if Bonds were the only rule-breaker, but that just isn’t so (and he still hasn’t tested positive for anything, technically — I’m sure he took them, but as far as the league is concerned, he’s not in violation of the rules except via hearsay).
I don’t think Bonds helps himself by being a dick, but I don’t think this indictment is about that; that’s a court-of-public-opinion issue. This is, in my opinion, the people in charge wanting this discussion to end, period, and thinking that indicting Bonds is going to end it. And it won’t work.
As far as Bonds treating it like work, vs. a game…I don’t like the dude, but that’s always made eminent sense to me. It was where his father went when he went to work. He grew up seeing it like that. And that’s what it is, really; you can love your job, but it’s a job, still. If that’s his defense for using, in the end (if he ever admits to it), that he wanted to keep his job? I can’t co-sign it, but I see where he’s coming from. Sportswriters who insist on plunging the game in sepia and amber, like Babe Ruth and DiMag didn’t both hold out for more money numerous times, like everyone played for the sheer love of it back in the day? Barf.
The S.F. Chronicle ran a page that read “756 ALONE AT THE TOP” when Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s record. Now that headline has a bit of a different meaning. Unless they decide to go after other players (which is doubtful) he’ll be the one they decide to hang out as the example.
At this point, I’m tired of hearing about it.
Timing of the indictment could have been triggered by George Mitchell’s investigation – namely that the Feds wanted their charges out there before the Mitchell Report was released. The report still may, but Bonds is (I think) the fifth athlete to face charges because of Balco, and it’s interesting that it isn’t the steroid use that’s bringing them down.
Lesson learned is: Thou shalt not lie to the Feds…
What I can’t believe is that THIS is our new attorney general’s priority. Seriously. Indicting Bonds is Michael Mukasey’s first act in office.
A great column about what’s wrong with this picture comes from left-wing sports columnist Dave Zirin (presumably the only person to ever simultaneously work as a columnist for Sports Illustrated and The Nation) on his website Edge of Sports:
http://www.edgeofsports.com/2007-11-15-296/index.html